Charlestown Student Sings in St. Gallen Switzerland

William Moody of Charlestown, 1 of the 36 members of the Boston College High School Chamber and Concert Choirs, led by Choir Director Dr. Marina Rozenberg of Hingham, recently returned from a concert tour in Switzerland.

The trip started with a tour of Zurich, where they visited St. Peter’s church which has the largest clock face in Europe, then on to Fraumünster, the oldest religious building in Zürich, with its excavated crypt, and where they performed an informal concert. Although the church dates to the 9th century, it is home to five contemporary stained glass works by Mark Chagall.

The following day, they  departed for St. Gallen, a small city in the middle of the rolling Swiss fields. There with Yoojin Lee  playing one of Europe’s largest organs, they rehearsed for their Palm Sunday performance at the Cathedral. After rehearsal they sampled some Swiss chocolate, bratwurst and farm-fresh burgers. While shopping they saw the large wall that once separated the Catholics from the Protestants and they were given access to the Abbey Library of St. Gall, one of the oldest libraries in Europe.

On the third day, they visited Lucerne, located in the heart of Switzerland and there they came upon a farmers’ market and saw a huge cliff façade with a large lion carved into it that symbolized the Swiss soldiers who died during the French Revolution. Next they visited the Rosengart Museum which  contains works from some of the most influential artists of the impressionist and pre-modern era, paintings and sketches from Paul Klee, Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, and Pablo Picasso. They met and sang for Angela Rosengart, famous art collector, muse and model for Picasso.

They witnessed the snow covered Alps on the next day as they traveled back to St. Gallen to sing for Palm Sunday Mass,  said in both Italian and German. After mass they visited the Maestrani Chocolarium, where they feasted on Swiss chocolate.

The Benedictine monks welcomed them to their Einsiedein Abbey, where the boys sang “Crucem tuam” and “A New Commandment” at mass. Einsiedein’s monastery is connected to a school where they sang for the students with “Danny Boy” and “Hallelujah,” and some new additions “Transylvania Mania” from Young Frankenstein and “Bring Him Home” from ‘Les Miserables.’ That concluded the final concert. Back at the hotel they were taught how to yodel and celebrated Doctor Rozenberg’s birthday, thus ending a glorious stay in Switzerland.

Boston College High School is a Jesuit, Catholic, college-preparatory school for young men founded in 1863. The school enrolls approximately 1,500 students from more than 100 communities in eastern Massachusetts. For more http://www.bchigh.edu.

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